Telangana, AP see good inflow of water: Sagar likely to get filled up in 15 days

Hyderabad: After a long time, there is good news on the water front. With massive inflows coming to Jurala from Karnataka, there is an expectation that Srisailam water will be released to Nagarjunasagar in a day or two.

On Thursday evening, water stood at 878 feet at Srisailam, just seven feet less than the full reservoir level. Against its full storage capacity of 215.81 tmc ft, it is holding 176.20 tmc ft.

Irrigation engineer-in-chief Hariram said if the inflows continue at the present rate, the reservoir will by full in a couple of days and water would be released on Saturday or Sunday.

Heavy rains in the catchment areas in Maharashtra and Karnataka have resulted in record inflows into Jurala and Srisailam.

The Narayanpur dam, the last one on the Krishna in Karnataka, is releasing four lakh cusecs of water for the first time after a decade which is reaching Jurala.
Jurala is receiving 3.3 lakh cusecs of water and is releasing 3.5 lakh cusecs and 36 gates have been opened for the first time since 2009.

Mr Hariram said if the rate of inflows stays the same, Nagarjunasagar could reach full capacity within two week. Once storage in Srisailam reservoir reaches the 200 tmc ft mark, officials will open the gates and release water to Nagarjunasagar.

Officials are generating 1,670 MW hydel power from Srisailam and from the 240x2 generating units at Jurala.

Up north, the Kaleshwaram barrage system is impounding water and pumping it to the projects that are short of water. If the lifeline projects on the river Godavari also fill up, the state will have a double bonanza.